City job raises questions about future of city manager

The city council is getting ready to hire an assistant city manager, which has raised doubts about the future of City Manager Max Garbarino, who is suspended with pay, returning to his job.

By Charles Sercombe
Hamtramck is once again seeking an assistant to the city manager.
But for anyone interested in applying, the job posting on the city’s website has already been taken down — after being on the city’s website for only about three weeks.
According to various sources, this hiring could be the first step in the eventual attempt to fire current City Manager Max Garbarino, who is on paid administrative leave.
Garbarino was suspended at the urging of Mayor Amer Ghalib, who insisted on hiring a private investigator to look into allegations made by the police chief about wrongdoings committed by Garbarino.
Garbarino has denied any wrongdoing, and has said the chief’s allegations are false, and were made in retaliation for Garbarino suspending the chief for allegations of wrongdoing.
And those aren’t the only suspensions: a police investigator with the department, David Adamczyk, is also on paid administrative leave for initiating the internal investigation into the police chief.
The FBI is reportedly now looking into the matter involving the police chief, while a private investigator separately looks into all three people involved: Altaheri, Garbarino and Adamczyk.
If that sounds confusing, you are not alone, as city hall has been in turmoil for the last few weeks.
In the meantime, the interim city manager is Syed Aamir Hassan, who is also the city’s finance director.
The requirements for the assistant city manager position include:
• Having a bachelor’s degree with a “concentration in public administration or a related field,” with a master’s degree preferred.
• Having five years’ experience “working in municipal, county, or state government, or with a large public organization.”
• Having prior experience as a supervisor.
• “The preferred candidate will be bilingual in Arabic and/or Bengali.”

The job pays $84,000 a year, plus offers health insurance and a retirement plan.
It was not immediately known how many total applicants there were.
The last time the city hired an assistant city manager, that didn’t work out well.
In that instance, at the insistence of the city council, a position was created, only to end up with that person leaving in less than a year after being in disputes with other city employees, and being paid $60,000 in a settlement.
Posted July 18, 2025